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Testimonies for the Church Volume 3
every spiritual grace. The unsanctified heart is “deceitful above all
things, and desperately wicked.” I was shown that many are flattering
themselves that they are good Christians, who have not a ray of light
from Jesus. They have not a living experience for themselves in the
divine life. They need a deep and thorough work of self-abasement
before God before they will feel their true need of earnest, persevering
effort to secure the precious graces of the Spirit.
God leads His people on step by step. The Christian life is a
constant battle and a march. There is no rest from the warfare. It is
by constant, unceasing effort that we maintain the victory over the
temptations of Satan. As a people we are triumphing in the clearness
and strength of the truth. We are fully sustained in our positions by
an overwhelming amount of plain Scriptural testimony. But we are
very much wanting in Bible humility, patience, faith, love, self-denial,
watchfulness, and the spirit of sacrifice. We need to cultivate Bible
holiness. Sin prevails among the people of God. The plain message
of rebuke to the Laodiceans is not received. Many cling to their
doubts and their darling sins while they are in so great a deception
as to talk and feel that they are in need of nothing. They think the
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testimony of the Spirit of God in reproof is uncalled for or that it does
not mean them. Such are in the greatest need of the grace of God
and spiritual discernment that they may discover their deficiency in
spiritual knowledge. They lack almost every qualification necessary to
perfect Christian character. They have not a practical knowledge of
Bible truth, which leads to lowliness of life and a conformity of their
will to the will of Christ. They are not living in obedience to all God’s
requirements.
It is not enough to merely profess to believe the truth. All the
soldiers of the cross of Christ virtually obligate themselves to enter the
crusade against the adversary of souls, to condemn wrong and sustain
righteousness. But the message of the True Witness reveals the fact
that a terrible deception is upon our people, which makes it necessary
to come to them with warnings, to break their spiritual slumber, and
arouse them to decided action.
In my last vision I was shown that even this decided message of
the True Witness had not accomplished the design of God. The people
slumber on in their sins. They continue to declare themselves rich and
having need of nothing. Many inquire: Why are all these reproofs